Buff Skills

"You four, go over there and capture those three brats."

The masked captain issued the order to the three ninjas behind him.

He and the remaining two stayed where they were, prepared to deal with the Konoha jonin who might be lurking in the shadows.

Cloud Ninja were always incredibly arrogant.

Even though they had already lost two companions and had several others injured, they still swaggered toward the three who were roasting food by the fire.

"Hey, Uchiha brats, surrender immediately."

One of them placed a hand on Ryosuke, who was on the outer edge.

But Ryosuke remained motionless, as if he hadn't heard a thing.

"Are they scared witless? Just take them away; I didn't expect this mission to be so easy."

The other two walked over to Miyuki and Sanhe.

Yet, they were just like Ryosuke, showing no reaction at all.

"Wait, something is wrong."

The last man felt that something was amiss and immediately issued a warning.

But it was already too late.

Ryosuke, Sanhe, and Miyuki suddenly exploded with a poof, and a large net dropped from the tree, trapping the three of them inside.

"It's a trap! Save us!"

The three trapped in the net struggled while calling out to the other man for help.

"Hold on, I'm coming to save you—wait, there's something wrong with this net; it's absorbing my chakra."

The fourth Cloud Ninja realized something was wrong the moment he touched the net.

But it was too late for him to pull away.

A kunai was already pressed against his throat.

"Please, stay still."

Shisui revealed his Four-Tomoe Sharingan.

"Shisui of the Body Flicker?"

There was only one person in the Uchiha clan who possessed a Four-Tomoe Sharingan, and that was Uchiha Shisui.

The three Cloud Ninja trapped in the net were equally shocked.

They never imagined they would be so unlucky as to run into the famous Shisui of the Body Flicker on their very first ambush mission; their hearts sank instantly.

At the same time, due to the effect of the net, the four of them were soon unable to move as their chakra was completely drained.

The masked captain clearly noticed the situation on this side as well.

"Uchiha Shisui? Konoha really went all out."

As he spoke, he tore off half of the black veil covering his face, revealing a lower jaw covered in scars.

"Do you remember me? In a battle once, you killed three of my companions and left me with this."

"I don't remember," Shisui said indifferently.

His attitude instantly enraged the man.

The man drew two short blades wreathed in blue electric arcs from behind his back and charged toward Shisui.

"The remaining two are yours."

After saying this, Shisui struck the Cloud Ninja beside him on the neck, knocking him unconscious, before engaging the Cloud jonin in battle.

Ryosuke and the other two jumped down from a tree and charged toward the remaining two Cloud Ninja.

"Leave that guy to me; I won't let him escape this time," Sanhe said to Miyuki and Ryosuke, pointing at Kumasuke.

"What do you think, Ryosuke?" Miyuki didn't rush to decide, looking to Ryosuke instead.

"You two handle him; leave the rest to me."

Ryosuke brought his kunai to his chest and assumed a combat stance.

"Fine." Miyuki agreed without hesitation.

Seeing this, the two Cloud Ninja also charged forward.

The Cloud jonin's Lightning Blade clashed with Shisui's kunai.

"You're actually letting those three brats handle my subordinates? You're being far too arrogant."

"They were the ones who killed your two subordinates last time; I didn't even lift a finger."

Shisui said with a smile.

"What? Those three brats?"

The Cloud jonin immediately realized something was wrong. He wanted to turn back to look at the battlefield, but his body suddenly froze.

"To be distracted while fighting an Uchiha, you're certainly arrogant. I'll send you to join your dead comrades now."

Shisui's genjutsu had seized control of the Cloud Ninja jonin's body.

Although the opponent realized what was happening, and despite being a jonin himself, his abilities were simply no match for Shisui's ninjutsu.

Under his astonished gaze, the hand holding his Lightning Blade slowly began to drag the blade across his own throat.

On the other side, Ryosuke opened with a Shadow Clone Technique followed by three Fire Release ninjutsu.

The Cloud Ninja opposite him sneered, tore straight through the flames, and lunged at Ryosuke.

It seemed the ninjas dispatched by the Cloud this time were specifically chosen for this mission.

Konoha ninjas primarily relied on ninjutsu, yet these Cloud Ninjas possessed strong countermeasures against such techniques.

"Uchiha brat, go to hell."

The Cloud Ninja's fist, wreathed in electric arcs, struck toward Ryosuke's stomach.

"I originally wanted to make use of your remaining value, but it seems that won't be possible now."

Ryosuke sighed and quickly formed hand seals; countless shadows shaped into spears pierced through the Cloud Ninja's body.

There was no help for it—since this guy specialized in ninja-taijutsu, Ryosuke hadn't been able to copy a single ninjutsu from him.

However, this served as a reminder that relying too heavily on ninjutsu might work against average ninjas, but it would be quite troublesome if he were to truly encounter a master of ninja-taijutsu like the Fourth Raikage.

[Ding, congratulations to the host for killing an enemy. Randomly plundering one ninjutsu: Lightning Release: Rampage.]

Hm?

It was another ninjutsu Ryosuke had never heard of, and he couldn't help but test it out.

Crackle, crackle.

Several blue electric arcs spread across Ryosuke's body, and he felt his frame surge with power.

"Isn't this the move that guy just used? Could this be a form of ninja-taijutsu?"

Ryosuke tested his Sonido once more.

To his surprise, he discovered that his chakra consumption had dropped to only 100 points, and his movement speed had significantly increased.

This was a buff-type ninjutsu; although it was inferior to the Raikage's Lightning Release: Lightning Armor, it still held great potential for development as far as Ryosuke was concerned.

He was very satisfied with this.

He glanced toward the battlefield where Sanhe and Miyuki were fighting and raised an eyebrow. "I wonder how things are going over there."

The "over there" Ryosuke referred to was not the battle involving Shisui, as that had already concluded.

Rather, it was the battle his clones were waging in the forest.

As it turned out, shortly after Shisui left, while Ryosuke and the others were setting up the trap, he had thought to use clones to head into the forest and finish off those who had fallen into their snares.

This allowed him to maximize the value of the system.

[Ding, congratulations to the host for completing Mission One: Slay 3 enemies. Obtained 3,000 experience points.]

Hearing the system prompt, Ryosuke decisively dispelled his Clone Technique.

Through the intelligence gathered by his clones, he learned that there were still two enemies left unaddressed.

One of them was uninjured and had stayed behind to look after his comrades who were trapped in the predicament.

"Shisui-sensei, there are still enemies in the forest. I'm going to go clear them out."

Ryosuke called out to Shisui from a distance before charging into the woods.

Shisui was momentarily stunned, but he didn't say anything.